That same year, two internment camps were erected in Hungary, one 20 miles [30 km] from Budapest and the other in the town of Nagykanizsa, in southwest Hungary, 16 miles [26 km] from the Yugoslav border. These camps were soon filled with people they called unreliable​—criminals, Communists, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were accused of being a threat to society.

More Internment Camps

In August 1940 part of Transylvania (Romania) was taken over by Hungary. The following year, persecution in this area intensified. In Cluj, Transylvania, another internment camp was erected, and hundreds of brothers and sisters, young and old, were taken to this camp. Later, the Witnesses there were subjected to much brutality because they would not renounce their faith and return to their former religion. When news of this reached the Witnesses outside the camp, faithful ones throughout the country united in prayer in their behalf. Shortly thereafter, an official investigation at the Cluj camp exposed corruption, so the commanding officer and a majority of the guards were transferred, and some were even imprisoned. This brought some relief to our brothers, and for this they gave thanks to Jehovah.

Meanwhile, in southwestern Hungary, in a camp situated near Nagykanizsa, married couples were interned together, their children being looked after by Witnesses still at home. In all of these camps, pressure was put on Jehovah’s people. They were offered freedom if they would just sign a document renouncing their faith and promising that they would give up all connection with Jehovah’s Witnesses and return to their former State-approved faith.

The situation of Jehovah’s Witnesses became even more perilous on June 27, 1941, when Hungary joined the war against the Soviet Union. This led to many trials in connection with refusal of military service.

The very next month, on December 15, Brother Konrád was arrested. For several days he was brutalized in an unspeakably barbaric manner in an effort to get him to divulge the names of the zone servants and the pioneers, but his tormentors had no success. Finally he was handed over to the district attorney. After all of that, he was sentenced to just two months in prison. But at the end of his sentence, he was not released. Instead he was transferred to the concentration camp at Kistarcsa on the premise that he was a menace to society.

[Picture on page 82]

Witnesses in concentration camp at Nagykanizsa